1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as an ink jet printer and a printing method for the same apparatus.
2. Related Art
As printing paper used in ink jet printers, paper, which has a definite shape prescribed in advance on the basis of various standards, is generally used. For example, in an office ink jet printer and the like, elongated paper which is wound in a roll shape is used, a printing process is performed thereon, and a part of the paper, on which the process is performed, is transported forward to the downstream side and is cut, thereby dividing the part, on which the printing process is performed, from a non-printed part of the printing paper. In addition, in such an ink jet printer, the non-printed part of the printing paper is transported backward to a print position, and thus the printing process is performed thereon again.
As described above, in a case of the configuration in which the elongated printing paper is cut each time the printing process is performed, paper dust may be generated at the time of cutting. In this case, when the printing paper is transported backward to the print position, the printing may be performed in a state where the paper dust remains on the surface of the printing paper, or the paper dust, which flies during the backward transport, may become attached to the printing head of the ink jet printer. This may cause abnormal operations in the printing or deterioration in print precision. Hence, for example, in the ink jet printer disclosed in JP-A-2003-39757, a suction hole is provided near the print position, thereby suctioning and removing paper dust through the suction hole.
However, in the ink jet printer used in the related art as disclosed in JP-A-2003-39757, even when the paper dust can be removed by suctioning the paper dust through the suction hole, the non-printed part of the paper, on which the paper dust is attached, is temporarily transported backward to the vicinity of the print position. Hence, the paper dust, which is in a state before the suctioning or was not suctioned, may scatter in the vicinity of the print position. In this case, in the printing process, there is a concern of reattachment of the dust to the printing paper or the printing head, and thus in this respect there is room for improvement.
Further, such a problem arises not only in ink jet printers but also in printers which have different printing modes such as an electrophotographic method and a thermal transfer method. Furthermore, a common problem may also arise even in different printing apparatuses which perform the printing process on, for example, a cloth, a resin film, a resin sheet, a metal sheet, or the like, then cut it, and perform the printing process on the non-printed part thereof.